Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is photographed while speaking. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
But while crime has dropped in other big California cities, it has surged in Oakland, a city of roughly 400,000 across the bay from San Francisco. In-N-Out Burger closed its only restaurant in Oakland — the first closure in its 75-year history — due to car break-ins, property damage, theft and robberies.
On Thursday, the CEOs of four major employers in downtown Oakland announced plans for a joint $10 million security program to improve public safety and protect employees. The companies are Blue Shield of California, Clorox, Kaiser Permanente and Pacific Gas & Electric.
Cat Brooks, executive director of the Anti Police-Terror Project and a 2018 Oakland mayoral candidate, said Friday that money will be spent on faulty technology and placed in poor communities to further terrorize Black, Latino and other vulnerable residents.
"How many people could be housed or trained into a living wage job or sent to college and get health care, things that actually keep people safe?" she said. "You're divesting in Oakland. You are taking critical resources that this city so desperately needs to build whole, happy, safe communities and you’re putting that toward the same failed strategies."
Neither the governor's office nor California Highway Patrol has said how much the contract will cost.
Nearly 300 of the cameras will be deployed on city streets and the remainder will be deployed on nearby state highways, according to the governor's statement.
For the sake of privacy, footage will be retained for 28 days and will not be shared with third parties beyond California law enforcement, Newsom’s office said.
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Earlier this month, voters approved a ballot measure backed by San Francisco Mayor London Breed to grant police access to drones and surveillance cameras.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bay-area-city-install-480-surveillance-cameras-anti-crime-bid-newsom-announces